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Message #: 28486
In a crucial series with division co-leader Toronto, the Orioles looked really, *really* ugly in the first two games (29 LOB in 23 innings) but still somehow took three of four from the Blue Jays.
Game 1: TOA 10, BAA 5
Orioles starter Ben McDonald had been effective all season except for a penchant for gopher balls, yielding a majors-leading 30 home runs through Week 20. This outing was no different. In a painful second inning, the Orioles loaded the bases against Cy Young Award leader Juan Guzman but failed to score, then saw Dave Winfield homer to put the Jays on the board, then gave Guzman a two-run lead thanks to Leo Gomez’s error. In an agonizing 3rd, Candy Maldonado homered to make it 2-1, but Devon White tripled and scored to start a rally in which Joe Carter hit a three-run homer to put Toronto up 6-0. The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the 5th. After Baltimore left the bases loaded in the top of the 6th, Arthur Rhodes relieved McDonald but fared no better, giving up a two-run homer to White and an RBI single to Scott Livingstone to put the O’s behind 10-1. In the 7th, Maldonado homered again to make it 10-3, but the Orioles left the bases loaded AGAIN and brought in the scrubs to save precious ABs, even giving Cal Ripken his first breather of the season. Maldonado doubled in the 8th to make it 10-5 but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Since no one other than Maldonado knew how to drive in a run, the Orioles left an astounding 14 men on base.
Game 2: BAA 7, TOA 6 (14)
The game started inauspiciously for the Orioles, as Mike Sharperson was thrown out at home on a 70% chance of scoring in the top of the 1st. But with Cy Young contender Curt Schilling on the mound, the game didn’t get away early like it did in Game 1. The O’s drew first blood in the 3rd when David Segui doubled and scored on a groundout, and Gomez made it 4-0 with a three-run bomb in the 5th. Carter tripled and scored to make it 4-1 after five innings. The Orioles got two more in the sixth when Brady Anderson doubled to drive in Segui and scored on Greg Briley’s two-base error, but those were offset by Robby Alomar’s two-run homer for a 6-3 score through six. Schilling only gave up four hits through eight innings… and then had to watch the ninth. Arthur Rhodes retired one batter before giving up a single and a walk. Closer Gregg Olson came in to walk a batter, hit one, retire one, and then give up a two-run pinch-hit single by Kevin McReynolds to send the game into extra innings. This game was so backwards, the only way the Orioles could score was when they *tried* to get outs. In the 14th, after Chito Martinez walked, Steve Lake tried a sac bunt and hit it so perfectly that (despite a speed of 9) he beat it out. Joe Orsulak then laid down another sacrifice – which Blue Jays receiver threw away for a two-base error and a one-run Orioles lead. Orioles reliever Todd Frohwirth survived a shaky 14th for the win. The Orioles left 15 runners on base, slightly more tolerable given the bonus cantos.
Game 3: BAA 13, TOA 9
The O’s failed to take advantage of two Blue Jays errors in the first. But in the second, Toronto starter Jack Morris gave up a two-run blast to Chris Hoiles and a two-out grand slam by Craig Biggio to fall behind 6-0. Morris, with 51 pitches through 1 2/3 innings, gave way to Pat Hentgen, but he gave up a walk and a single to set up Hoiles’ second homer of the inning. Kevin McReynolds gave the Jays a consolation prize, hitting a two-run homer to make the score 9-2 through two innings. McReynolds drove in another run with a 3rd inning single. With a solid lead, the Orioles made some usage-driven moves. One of those subs, Jeff Tackett, perfectly executed a safety squeeze in the 7th, followed by an RBI double by Segui and a two-run homer by Brady Anderson to make it 13-3. Orioles mop-up man Bob Milacki entered the game in the bottom of the 7th, a welcome development for the Blue Jays. Jack Clark jacked a two-run home run in the 7th, Pat Borders added a solo shot in the 8th, and Clark got another two-run jack in the 9th , pulling the Jays to within 13-8. Milacki then put runners on the corners with no outs before giving way to Curt Young, and the O’s were glad to give up one more run on a double play for the final margin. Milacki’s already-awful ERA went from 7.20 to 10.50 in the process.
Game 4: BAA 8, TOA 3
Toronto starter Bobby Witt entered the week tied for the second most walks allowed in the majors. That was evident in the top of the first as Anderson drew a leadoff walk, stole two bases, and trotted home for a 1-0 Baltimore lead on a single by Sharperson. In the bottom of the inning, the usually solid Charles Nagy gave up singles to the first four batters, but Roberto Alomar was thrown out trying to steal second and a subsequent double play limited the damage to one run. The teams traded solo homers (by Anderson and Borders) in the 3rd to remain tied. In the 4th back-to-back two-out doubles by Tackett and Anderson put the O’s up again for the brief time it took to get to Carter’s solo homer, tying the game yet again. Both pitchers sort of settled down until the top of the seventh, when Anderson drew another leadoff walk, stole another base, and scored on a double by Sharperson – who scored one out later when Candy Maldonado took Jays reliever Doug Jones deep to give the Orioles a 6-3 lead. The Orioles bullpen held, and Baltimore added two more in the eighth when Anderson singled home two more runs, although he spoiled an otherwise perfect night when he was thrown out trying to advance to second. Toronto outhit the Orioles 12-10 but gave up six walks to zero for the Orioles.
Anderson finished Game 4 just a triple short of a cycle, going 3-for-3 with two walks, three steals, three runs scored, and four RBIs. Seven was his lucky number for the series – he went 7-for 17 with 7 runs scored, 7 RBI, and 7 walks. Meanwhile, to continue in our commissioner’s tradition: In three of the games, by my math, the Blue Jays bullpen had a net ERA in the neighborhood of 9.24, but no losses or blown saves. In the other (Game 2), they allowed no earned runs in 7 1/3 IP -- and took the loss.
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